# Former Smokers: Which movies make you want to light up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307 "2004-01-20T11:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/1 "2004-01-20T11:36:18Z")
Two weekends ago, my husband went to bed early because he had to work on Sunday and I stayed up to watch Gosford Park. Halfway through the movie, I was jonesing for a smoke so badly that I actually drove to the gas station, bought a pack, and smoked two of them that night. I hadn’t had a cigarette in over a year. Another movie on my “I just gotta have one” list: Trainspotting How about you guys? ---
**Author:** ![Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baby_Fish_Mouth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/2 "2004-01-20T17:25:04Z")
I can’t recall if there were characters smoking in _Gosford Park_, but I do recall falling asleep about 30 minutes into the movie. Was staying awake your reason for needing the nicotine? Mine is _All the President’s Men_. Dustin Hoffman chain smokes throughout most of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/3 "2004-01-20T17:34:07Z")
I think the movie is called **Sleepers**? It stars Brad Pitt and Kevin Bacon (I think) and is about some guys getting revenge on the guards in the juvenille detention system they grew up in who abused them sexually. God, they smoke constantly in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/4 "2004-01-20T18:09:03Z")
Dogma does it for me. I don’t think it’s that Silent Bob is always smoking, but rather the sound of his zippo. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stranger\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@The\_Stranger\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stranger_1)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/5 "2004-01-20T18:26:36Z")
_Apocalypse Now_ and _BlackHawk Down_ Haven’t had a smoke in over ten years…but these two movies make me think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/6 "2004-01-21T01:22:36Z")
Die Hard and Lethal Weapon ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/7 "2004-01-21T02:32:24Z")
I have never smoked, but after watching “Dennis Leary: Cure for Cancer” it made want to start! MtM ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/8 "2004-01-21T14:34:53Z")
There’s a trailer they show at a local arts theater that features John Waters sitting on a couch smoking. I tried to find it, but no luck. He starts talking about smoking and how you should do it in movie theaters because it gives ushers jobs, etc. All the while he’s puffing away. It’s great. Fortunately, you can smoke in this particular theater, so it’s the perfect ad. “How can anyone sit through the entire length of a film, especially a European film, without smoking??” John Waters ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/9 "2004-01-21T14:40:10Z")
Well, almost all porn… :eek: MeanJoe ---
**Author:** ![Stover9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stover9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stover9)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/10 "2004-01-21T14:46:00Z")
Cigarettes seem to be thoroughly enjoyed throughout The Usual Suspects, which always made me feel like taking a smoke and slowly inhaling and exhaling ala Verbal Kint…I’d have to have lots of drinks before I tried it though. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/11 "2004-01-21T16:48:39Z")
Trainspotting, for the relaxing appeal of the nicotine kick. Black Hawk Down, for the tense feeling. I hate you for being able to have two smokes. I haven’t smoked in 15 months. If I had 2 smokes, by this time next week I’d be up to a pack and a half. ---
**Author:** ![Papaveraceae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@Papaveraceae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papaveraceae)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/12 "2004-01-21T17:20:06Z")
Tell me about it **NurseCarmen**. I’ve been quit since November of '02, but if I had one I would be tempted to have another…and that would be it. I’m not very good with temptation. _Fight Club_ always makes me wish I had a smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/13 "2004-01-22T01:37:34Z")
For me films aren’t as bad as old television shows. _I Love Lucy_ , _Danny Thomas_ , early episodes of _Andy Griffith_ and _Bewitched_ , and all those other shows from the “brought to you by Big Tobacco” age make it seem so relaxing and casual that I begin jonesing. (By the 70s cigarettes were starting to be vilified, though occasionally a character you’d never once seen light up would be revealed to be a chain smoker, like Vera on ALICE or Fred on SANFORD & SON, so that the episode could deal with them trying to quit.) Have you ever seen those hysterical cigarette ads made by castmembers in character from TV shows? My favorites are Miss Hathaway and Granny (both chain smokers in real life) sharing a drag while Jed (a rabidly anti-tobacco former smoker in real life, but one who knew not to walk away from a paying gig on principal) lights up, puffs and says “Weeelllll doggy!” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/14 "2004-01-22T02:01:56Z")
Moving this to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/15 "2004-01-22T03:41:24Z")
> [@Papaveraceae](#): > > Tell me about it **NurseCarmen**. I’ve been quit since November of '02, but if I had one I would be tempted to have another…and that would be it. I’m not very good with temptation. > > _Fight Club_ always makes me wish I had a smoke. Really? _Fight Club_ is the first thing I think of whenever I try to guilt myself out of smoking (which never works, incidentally). The scene where Helena Bonham Carter’s character is introduced, and she’s sitting there looking like a smoking corpse, is one of the greatest images in any movie, ever. And yeah, every time I’ve quit it’s just taken me one to get me right back up to speed. So I’ve got a lot of respect for anybody who can just have 1 or 2 and stay quit. (And I can’t answer the OP, because I don’t qualify as “former” smoker yet. But anything over 2 hours definitely makes me want one; I bee-lined straight out of ROTK like my ass was on fire.) ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/16 "2004-01-22T03:54:29Z")
I agree with Fight Club. As mentioned in the commentary, HBC went from smoking one pack a day before the movie to three packs after. Fincher said he thought the excessive smoking would help her quit. Even Norton, who refused to smoke for Rounders, spent most of the flick smoking… ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/17 "2004-01-22T04:55:06Z")
In college, we had a game where you had to do what the character did. It was a drinking game, but one night a friend challenged us to smoke unfiltered Camel’s along with Humphrey Bogart in **Casablanca**. Damn near killed me. Haven’t smoked a cigarette since. ---
**Author:** ![Stinkum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Stinkum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinkum)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/18 "2004-01-22T07:40:41Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned _Smoke_ with Harvey Keitel. Saw that one is the theater in my smoking days, and bolted out of the theater like my hair was on fire to light one up. Saw it again on HBO recently and just about died – wanted a smoke so bad I almost went to store for a pack. BTW, I quit 1/25/02 so am coming up on my anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/19 "2004-01-22T08:41:31Z")
> [@Stinkum](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned _Smoke_ with Harvey Keitel. Saw that one is the theater in my smoking days, and bolted out of the theater like my hair was on fire to light one up. Saw it again on HBO recently and just about died – wanted a smoke so bad I almost went to store for a pack. I was about to mention that one along with the sequel _Blue in the Face_! Especially the scene in _Blue in the Face_ where Jim Jarmusch is smoking his Lucky Strikes (though I tried a pack of Luckies years ago and hated 'em). ---
**Author:** ![Tortuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Tortuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tortuga)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307/20 "2004-01-22T09:15:31Z")
You guys are killing me! Why did I click on this thread? Just this thread is reminding me how close we live to a 7-11, how easy it would be, how sweet it would feel…the snick-hiss of the match, that thick first drag…aw, crap! Three years gone! Why is it that I have had more cravings in the past three months than in the past three years? Is this some sort of turning/testing point? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-smokers-which-movies-make-you-want-to-light-up/225307.md?page=2)